Let's rewrite this problem to say 30% of what number is 18.
Well percent means over 100 so we know that 30% means 30/100.
Of means times, what number means x, is means equals,
and 12 means 12.
So we can translate this problem into the following equation below.
30/100 · x = 18
Notice that 30/100 can be reduced to 3/10.
So rewriting our problem we have 3x/10 = 18.
To get rid of the fraction we multiply both sides of the equation by 10 and we have 3x = 180. Dividing both sides by 3 and we find that x = 60.
Now let's check our answer back in the original problem to see if it makes sense. We have 30% of 60 is 18.
Well we know that 100% of 60 would be 60 so 30% of 60 should be a lot less than 60 so 18 seems to make sense.